Kyushu 2023 - Kagoshima Welcome to Sakurajima GeoPark

Welcome to Sakurajima! What a lovely sign to see when you arrive at Sakurajima! In English too! With the cute volcano mascot and it's kid welcoming you too! I was excited to explore this island! Excited and scared! What if it exploded while we were on it! Talk about a vacation gone wrong!

Side view of the ferry.

There was a ferry parked by the side of the jetty too. We weren't really in a hurry, so we walked around the jetty area to explore. I needed to get us a day ticket and find the bus station that was going to bring us to all the wonderful attractions here. 

Here is what it looked like, the parked ferry, and just next to it was actually the bus terminal. You could see it when you alight the ferry at the jetty. If you missed it, you can also still see it from the second floor of the jetty area. Very convenient. You can buy a day pass ticket at the ferry terminal too.

Some official information about Sakurajima Island. 

And this is the island bus. There are bus stops at designated attraction areas, so it's up to you to plan how you want to enjoy the island. Note this is not like Sentosa, a fun island of entertainment. This is a GeoPark. So the attractions are actually sceneries. 

So the island day pass is only 500yen! That's less than 5SGD! And it actually gave a discount for the ferry too, which I didn't know! So I kinda paid full price for the ferry coming to this island, but now has a discount going back. I didn't know I could get this ticket before boarding the ferry! Now that you know, don't waste my knowledge and your money! So for 500yen, you could take the bus for the whole day. However do note the stops are limited. There are other sights that I wanted to see which were nowhere near a bus stop, which was sad. If you drive, then you could visit those sights. One of them was actually a torii gate what was nearly covered in lava. Yes lava! That's how active this volcano IS! Not was!

There are helpful signs telling you what to do or where to run in the event the volcano does erupt. The good news is, you're on an island, so just head towards the ocean. The bad news is, you're on an island, there isn't really anyway to run. Better hope one of those ferries spot you!

Putting the fear of death to the side of my mind, we set off to explore. Some bus stops are slightly away from the actual sights, so expect a lot of walking! It looked like a great place for cycling too, at first. But to get to the observatory of the volcano is an uphill journey, so do keep that in mind too if you decided to cycle. 

View of Kagoshima on the other side of the sea :)

And view of the deadly volcano with slow moving smoke coming out of it's peak. Very dramatic scenery. 

A close up. The smoke actually is continuous. Sometimes thin, sometimes thick. Now I know why ancient people believed that the volcano was Gods. It was very much alive on it's own, breathing in and out. And when it gets angry, even the city of Kagoshima would be covered in ashes. I was awed looking at it through out the day. 

It wasn't that crowded on the island. In fact, when I saw a wide landscape this empty, I wanted to take a photo of it. It just makes you feel so freeeeee. And that was the feeling I am always chasing! Places in nature that made me felt alive and freeeeeee and be awed by the beauty of this earth :)